It's a boy!

Monday morning was our 20 week ultrasound.  Not only did we find out that baby is growing and developing wonderfully normally, but we also learned that he is definitely a boy :)  Life will certainly be different when this little guy joins our family, but we already feel blessed to know that he's on his way.

Baby was very active and very cooperative with all that the technician needed to see.  We were in and our in less than an hour!  (That's pretty good for this kind of ultrasound.)  The girls came along, behaved themselves very well, and had a pretty good time, we think.  After about 30 minutes, they started getting a little antsy, so Matt took them for a mini-tour around the first floor of the hospital. 

Here's some of the photos we got of our little guy.  Pretty amazing technology, huh?

Profile

3-D look of his face with his arm raised, the umbilical cord is between his arm and his face

Little legs and feet

Someone was already trying to suck on his fist

In other news, we have enjoyed some more rain in the past week or so, to the point that Matt finally had to mow the lawn this weekend after a two month vacation from that chore.  It will probably need it again within the week.

Most of our rain has come overnight, but one day last week we had showers in the afternoon.  The girls were thrilled to be able to play outside in the rain again :)

The garden is producing pretty well these days.  We've had green beans, cucumbers, zucchini, peppers, edemame cherry tomatoes, and our first real tomatoes.  The squash appears to be doing well, as does our second variety of potatoes.  The corn, however, may have had trouble because of the really hot weather we had a few weeks back.  Either the pollen was deactivated because of the extreme and prolonged temperatures and we will get NO sweet corn this year (sad, sad idea) or it was maybe pollinated later after the hot weather had passed.  Either way, we'll know within a week or so.

In other news, the girls are doing swimming lessons in McFarland this session for the first time in two years.  Anna is in one of the 5 year old classes while Kate is in the 3's and 4's class.  Anna is doing great and enjoys showing me in the afternoon swimming time outside what her teachers want her to work on.  Kate has had a rough start.  She's never done swimming without Matt or me, so doing it with a stranger is a little tough.  She's made it through both classes, but has had some tears midway through the class.  She's been able both times, however, to get herself back together on her own and laugh and have fun again.  For both kids I think it's been a good experience so far.

Here's a few good summertime shots of our goofy girls.

I think that's about it for now!

Off to Grandpa and Grandma's!

Last week we had a full week of Safety Town for Anna in the mornings, Mommy-Kate dates in the mornings, resting in the afternoons, plus playing in the pool or taking care of other "stuff".  Anna had a good time at the camp, learning some new safety information as well as having much of what she already knew be reinforced by the police officers and firefighters who ran the camp.  Kate and I did a bunch of errands on Monday, came home for some down time on Tuesday, met some friends at the zoo on Wednesday, and went to the eye doctor on Thursday.  The week involved a lot of driving for us girls since the camp was on the other side of town :(

Thursday afternoon my mom stopped by on her way through town and then after picking Anna up from Safety Town on Friday, she took the girls up to their place for the weekend.  Woohoo!  Matt and I were blessed to have our second kid free weekend and were reminded of just how much we can get accomplished without the girls around :)  Our activities included some quality garden time for me during which I finally was able to clean things up a bit out there, a bike ride into town for some ice cream, watching a movie, harvesting beans, weeding the perennial patch, refinishing the picnic table, cleaning the house, taking a nap (me!), going to church just us, and going out to dinner.  Crazy, but the best part was being able to do it all together, and not have to tag team wit who was keeping an eye on the kids :)

The girls had a great time, too.  They picked blueberries and blackberries in the woods, played inside and outside, went to the Eau Claire Children's Museum, played at a beach, went to worship with the grandparents, picked blueberries at Gary's Berries, went for Kubota rides, read lots and lots of books, went kayaking with Grandma, went fishing with Grandpa, and making treats for the birds with Grandma.

I went up to join the girls on Sunday and then stayed until Tuesday to give Matt some alone time at home, too.  Since we've been back, I've been battling what I hope to be my last big migraine of this pregnancy.  It was a pretty uncomfortable one that lasted longer than I had anticipated or hoped.

The exciting weather news as of late here is that our grass is green again!  We finally got some rain last Wednesday (Anna and Kate were SO excited), and then got more over the weekend and every night for three nights.  Unfortunately that also means that we'll have to start mowing the lawn again.  Oh, well.  Even though we're still technically in a severe drought, it just doesn't feel as bad after a week of rain :)

After about two months without rain, we had to take a picture of the first storm coming in.  Notice the brown and crispy grass!

Hopefully I'll remember to update this early next week after we have our ultrasound on Monday morning.  We can hardly believe that I'm 20 weeks along today!

Amazing Anna

We are so blessed to have Anna as a part of our family.  This kid is usually a joy to be around, but this past week has been filled with some pretty amazing events in her life.

First, she had her 5 year check-up last week.  I know, not too noteworthy in itself, but she knew that she'd be getting a handful of shots at this appointment.  We talked through it and prepared her as much as we could, but even so she said "Mom, I'm really scared and anxious" as she was lying down at the end of the appointment.  After the first one, she said "Hey!  That wasn't too bad!"  Even after the second one she didn't shed a tear.  The third and final shot is saved for the end because it's the most painful.  Though there were a few tears, she got herself under control right away and said "Well, I'm glad that's over!"

Besides the shots, she had a perfectly healthy check-up.  She's 43 lbs. and 43.5 inches.  That puts her at 68% for weight and 70% for height - very proportional :)  She chatted with the nurse and the doctor all about her birthday, kindergarten, her birthday party, and life in general.

Second, last week Anna decided to stop sucking her thumb once and for all.  For those of you who have followed this saga, you probably remember that sucking her thumb has been an almost 5 year addiction and that she has worked over the past two years or so to gradually cut back her thumb time.  The most recent parts of this journey included her New Year's resolution this year to only suck her thumb while she was sleeping and then packing away her special blanket (to which she and her thumb have been VERY attached since she was an infant) when she turned 5.

Anna kept telling us that she would quit the habit when she turned five, but her birthday came and went with her still telling us that she only needed to suck her thumb to fall asleep.  We've been giving her lots of ideas for strategies of how to stop (chew on something else at bedtime, snuggle with a big something or cuddle with a small something, listen to different music choices, think/pray about the day, etc.) and just letting her make the decision to stop, because we always knew that when she wanted to stop, she would find the willpower to do it.

Well, last Thursday we heard her up for awhile after we put her to bed and then on Friday morning she came out with the biggest smile and told us that she didn't suck her thumb to fall asleep.  My first response was "Wow!", but my next thought was did she really do it and know for sure?  Anyway, we gave her lots of praise and just waited.  When I checked on her on Friday night, she was sleeping with a chewy spoon in her mouth :)

Since then she hasn't gone back to the thumb!  She's also had a hard time falling asleep and/or sleeping in.  By yesterday she was really, really tired, but just couldn't settle down enough to take a nap, until she finally crashed on our bed while listening to a book on tape and fell asleep for awhile.

We've certainly had a few rough moments in terms of dealing with a really tired girl, but I think we might be over the worst of it.  And most importantly, we're SO proud of Anna.  We never wanted the thumb-sucking to be a fight between us and Anna so we've worked hard to just encourage her in the steps she's ready to take, knowing all the while that sucking her thumb is really not good for her teeth :)

Anyway, the last big thing for Miss Anna is that on Sunday she learned to swim!  As with so many other things in her life, once she figured it out, there was no going back.  We've had lots and lots of pool time this summer, but she still was hesitant to put her face in the water or to practice "swimming" without a noodle or floaty wrapped around her.  Then on Sunday my mom was here for awhile, and since it was so stinkin' hot again, we were out in the pool.  Anna wanted to show my mom how she could put her face under water while she had goggles on.  Then a little while later she tried it without the goggles, decided that she was okay with it, and then started to swim!  Crazy kid.  Again, we're so proud of her and she's so proud of herself :)

The last thing to mention right now is that the only reason I'm able to update this blog in the middle of the day today is because Kate and Anna are very busily playing.  Here's what they came up with.  They snuck into our room earlier and stealthily put away their clean clothes that were lying on the bed.  Then when I asked them what happened to the clothes (a game we often play), they told me that a robber muskrat stole them (this was a new twist to the game).  Then they set up a trap for the muskrat in our room made of blocks and string and various other things.  Silly girls :)

Beating the heat

Last week it was ridiculously hot for all of the days that Matt had off from work.  :(  So much for doing anything productive around the house.  Oh, well.  We decided to make the most of the weather and do something fun indoors most days, as well as play in the pool.

Thursday we took the girls bowling for the first time.  They were so cute :)  I had to help Kate push the ball otherwise the ball wouldn't make it down the lane without getting stuck.  After the first frame, Anna wanted to do it all by herself.  They both were thrilled to see how many pins they knocked down each time.

There was a more experienced family bowling in the lane next to us and the whole situation reminded me of a Simpsons episode.  In this one, Mr. Burns was bowling in Homer's league and every time Mr. Burns took his turn, the team next to his went through an entire frame in the time it took for his ball to roll down the lane.  That's about how it was whenever one of the girls took their turn :)

Friday we did some errands in the morning and then played in the pool with some new toys before lunch (since it was supposed to be over 100 degrees again).

Saturday we decided to go to the Milwaukee Public Museum as a whole family.  The girls and I had gone sometime in the winter as a field trip, but they really wanted to bring Matt along to look at the Arctic exhibit.  (Anna had wanted to learn about the Arctic back in March or April and we thought the learning week should culminate with a trip to see this exhibit, but then I got a migraine and the trip never quite materialized.)  It was amazing to see what the girls remembered about the Arctic!  Matt was pretty impressed with how they seem to enjoy themselves at a museum such as this, but was also a bit disappointed that he couldn't stay and read all of the information he wanted to read before they were ready to move on :)

Sunday we had a water birthday party for Anna.  She has SO much fun.

The kids all got to play in the pool first, then we gave them some water squirters and had them do a relay game with them.

They all got to play with water balloons - the first time for many of the kids!

Matt had also rigged up an obstacle course for them to use their squirt guns.

And then things degenerated into a good old fashioned water fight :)  It seemed like everyone had a good time and was very tired at the end.

This week I've been trying to get back on track with the garden, now that the temperatures aren't quite as hot.  We've frozen beets, broccoli, freezer pickles, some green beans, squash, and squash puree.  We've also pulled the onions and dug about a third of the potatoes.  When I say "we", I mean mostly the girls and I;  Matt helps when we ask him to (like when he helped pull the onions), but we mostly try to take care of things when he's at work.  Actually, I either pick early in the morning or after the girls go to bed because otherwise it's just too hot.  Today the girls and I had a great time digging potatoes this morning.  They were both excited to see how many potatoes they could find from each plant and how full we could get our harvesting bucket.  Then they had fun sorting them into different sized ... small, medium, big, and monstrous.  I'm so glad they enjoy some of these chores :)

We've also had a few playdates and done a few activities at our local library.  It's nice having a relaxing summertime schedule right now.

It's HOT!

One of the reasons we love WI is because of the beautiful summers.  Since we've lived here, whenever there seems to be a heat wave, it always passes in a few days and then we're back to reasonable weather pretty quickly.  Not this summer :(  It's been HOT and DRY here.  In the month of June we had only 3/10 of an inch of rain and many more days than normal over 90 degrees.  It makes for great playing in the pool weather, but that's about it.

We had planned to go camping with friends last weekend, but it was supposed to be another round of hot weather.  We had warm weather last year when we went and thought we'd survive just fine.  Well, I got a migraine on Friday night and since I can't take my normal Imitrex, it didn't go away :(  We ended up leaving after lunch on Saturday.

I've come to terms with the situation having realized that the girls (and Matt) had a great time on Friday evening and on Saturday morning.  They all came out of the experience with positive memories and a desire to do it again.  So someday when this heat finally breaks, we may try camping again just as our family.

A few highlights of the camping experience were playing in the dirt piles around the group campsite, going for a short hike and seeing all kinds of "cool things" on Friday after dinner, surprising Anna with a birthday cake for dessert, and Matt taking the girls canoeing on Saturday morning.

Unfortunately we aren't quite accustomed to mosquitoes these days and weren't as good about bug spray while camping.  The girls came home with dozens of bites :( but seem pretty much healed by now.

It might have actually been best for most of us to come home early on Saturday anyway.  The girls both slept about 1 1/2 hours on the way home (and they rarely sleep in the car at all these days) and then they both slept almost 12 hours on Saturday night!  I guess they were pretty exhausted.

Another change of plans due to the hot weather has been our 4th of July holiday.  The girls really, really, really wanted to be a part of the bike parade in Monona today so we braves the 100+ heat for a few hours to be at the festival.

Anna fell off her bike at one point, but was a great trooper about getting right back on.  She prides herself on her "dismounting" abilities since Matt has told her that those are signs of a good mountain biker :)

The girls did the parade, played at the dream park, ate lunch and ice cream, enjoyed a Dave Landau concert (their smiles in the above picture show how much they love Dave), and bought their baby dolls some new clothes at the art fair with some birthday money.  Then we had to come home before the heat affected any of us too much.  We had thought/hoped to maybe go to the fireworks again this year, but since it was still about 100 degrees at dinnertime and no one took a nap, we decided that this just wasn't the year for it.  Maybe next year, right?

And she's five!

Last Wednesday Anna turned 5.  Wow.  I know people say that this time goes so fast, but it's definitely true.  There's so much that has happened in the past five years; it's hard to put it all into words.

Anyway, Anna started her morning bright and early and waiting fairly patiently for Kate to wake up.

The two of them hunted for the hidden 5's.

Then Anna opened a few presents before breakfast muffins.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) the girls had preschool camp from 8:30 until 1 again.

After coming home and resting for a bit, the girls and I played in the pool before Anna's requested birthday dinner and dessert.  Then neighbor Carly came over to play for a bit in the evening.  Anna also received a few special phone calls throughout the day :)  Though it wasn't filled with anything specifically big and special this time around, at the end of the day Anna said she had a great day.